IBM and Tokyo Ohka Kogyo Co., Ltd (TOK) are working together to develop low-cost methods for thin film solar – they say the products will also be easier to install.
They are jointly developing processes, materials, and equipment to make CIGS (Copper-Indium-Gallium-Selenide) solar cell modules.
IBM Research is targeting efficiencies of 15% and higher – a sharp rise from the current 6-12%.
The combination of this technology with TOK’s coating processes and high purity chemicals (from manufacturing semiconductors and LCD panels) could bring large scale thin-film solar production to market.
"Our goal is to develop more efficient photovoltaic structures that would reduce the cost, minimize the complexity, and improve the flexibility of producing solar electric power," says Dr. Tze-Chiang Chen, IBM Vice President of Science and Technology, IBM Research.
IBM Research is exploring four main areas of photovoltaic research: using current technologies to develop cheaper and more efficient silicon solar cells, developing new solution-processed thin-film photovoltaic devices, concentrator photovoltaics, and future generation photovoltaic architectures based upon nanostructures such as semiconductor quantum dots and nanowires.
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